DOVER, Del. (December 26, 2023)— Delaware’s agricultural industry looks forward to attending the annual Delaware Ag Week at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington from January 8 – 11, 2024.

“Ag Week is the largest venue where Delaware farmers, agribusinesses, and subject matter experts can network and learn about the latest innovations and research that will impact them in the upcoming growing season,” said Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse. “Nineteen years ago, the Department of Agriculture, University of Delaware, and Delaware State University Cooperative Extension developed Ag Week to help farmers get everything they needed in one spot so we could reduce the time they were away from the farm in the height of planting and harvesting, and it’s now a tradition everyone looks forward to attending.”

The four-day event offers many sessions featuring agronomy, animal science, beekeeping, fruits and vegetables, woodland management, and more. Attendees can earn continuing education credits for nutrient management, pest management, and Certified Crop Advising for Delaware and Maryland.

Those looking to attend the event can find the focus of each day, session topics, speakers, and locations online at https://sites.udel.edu/delawareagweek.

The information delivered is crucial to maintaining the success of the agriculture industry, which is the state’s top economic driver. According to the 2023 Feeding the Economy Report, agriculture employs 69,000 and provides nearly $10.3 billion in economic activity to Delaware. In addition, the state’s 2,300 family farms had $1.5 billion in direct sales to consumers.

According to Ag Week Chairman Cory Whaley with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, “Delaware Ag Week is a great time to get continuing education credits, soak up information, and catch up with friends and others in the ag community. Session organizers have done a tremendous job in putting together great programs that will provide relevant and timely information.”

While registration is not required for the overall event, specific sessions require pre-registration, as specified online, to ensure adequate preparation for the caterers.

This event is brought to you by the Delaware Department of Agriculture, the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, and the Delaware State University Cooperative Extension. These organizations are equal opportunity providers. If you have special needs requiring accommodations, please get in touch two weeks before the event at 302-831-3328.

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DOVER, Del. (December 13, 2023) – The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) announced beginning January 2, 2024, their seed laboratory will offer additional testing service options to assist producers. For the first time since 1999, DDA is increasing fees for services performed by the DDA Seed Lab.

Under 3 Del. C. § 1507, DDA’s Seed Lab can charge for seed testing services. The laboratory has not changed its fee structure in 24 years; however, the rising costs of testing supplies and equipment necessitated this increase.

The Plant Industries Section, which oversees the DDA Seed Laboratory, has added services, including Noxious Weed Count ($10/sample) and Cold Germination ($15/sample). In early 2024, the lab will add the Falling Number test, which helps identify flour quality by testing the enzymatic activity and structural integrity of starch chains in cereal crops. The Falling Numbers test will be $50/sample.

The following fee schedule will take effect on January 2, 2024, and be applied to each sample submitted:

For testing, one pound of seed should be submitted in a clean bag labeled with the type of seed and the date it was harvested. Samples are expected to be free of foreign matter, including debris and chaffing from the seed. Uncleaned samples and samples containing other grains will be subject to a cleaning fee of $30 per sample.

The Seed Lab also offers the following analyses:

• Vomitoxin: $46/sample
• Aflatoxin: $46/sample
• Round-Up Tolerance: $20/sample
• Seed Count (conditioned samples only): $10/sample

For additional details about these changes or submitting samples for testing, please contact the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Seed Laboratory at 302-698-4590 or visit https://agriculture.delaware.gov/plant-industries.

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DOVER, Del. (October 10, 2022) — Members of the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission approved an emergency order during their October 4 meeting that will allow for a 180-day extension for properly staged poultry litter in Delaware crop fields beginning on November 1.

Many Delaware farms apply poultry litter, a natural fertilizer rich in nutrients and micronutrients, to their fields before planting season to help promote soil health and produce strong, healthy crops. When the Delaware Department of Agriculture issued control orders this past spring restricting the movement and spreading of poultry litter the control orders issued this past Spring due to an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) confirmed in New Castle and Kent counties, the order caused hardships for some farmers.

Effective November 1, farmers can begin properly staging poultry litter in the fields where it will be used next spring. Once the 180-day extension expires, the normal 90-day regulation will resume, resulting in a deadline for spreading field staged poultry litter of July 29, 2023, for poultry litter stacked on or before April 30, 2023.

To be considered properly staged, litter must be stacked in six-foot tall “windrows” or pyramids so that the cross-section of the pile is a triangle, ensuring that any rainwater will be shed rather than infiltrate the pile or pool around it. This is best accomplished with a loader bucket, following delivery to the field by a dump truck or trailer.

The goal of the emergency order is to assist producers in preparing and preventing any further spread of HPAI due to continued detections in the wild bird population and, most recently, confirmation of the virus in two backyard flocks in Kent County, Delaware.

Fall staging litter in preparation for the Spring 2023 application will help reduce litter movement when HPAI is expected to be the highest risk for Delaware poultry.

Avian influenza is a highly contagious airborne respiratory virus that spreads quickly among birds through nasal and eye secretions and manure. The virus can be spread in various ways from flock to flock, including by wild birds, through contact with infected poultry, by equipment, and on the clothing and shoes of caretakers. This virus affects poultry, like chickens, ducks, turkeys, and wild bird species, such as ducks, geese, shorebirds, and raptors.

The 2022 epidemiological curve of infections in the United States dropped dramatically from June through July. This emergency order allows farmers to make the most bio-secure decisions concerning utilizing litter to improve soil fertility for the 2023 season.

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DOVER, Del. (April 28, 2022) — The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) announced beginning on April 29, 2022, the Delaware Council on Farm & Food Policy (Council) will be accepting grant applications for projects to enable local entities to address challenges, stabilize, strengthen, and build resilience in our food system. A well-functioning food supply chain moves Delaware grown food products from farmland, and indoor grow sites to market outlets, households, and consumers.

The First State Food System Program provides grant funding to entities that grow, process, store, transport, distribute, or sell food in the State of Delaware. During the pandemic, households across the State were challenged more than ever to afford food. In addition, local food retail businesses struggled to keep doors open and provide for their communities, and Delaware farmers experienced severe disruptions in getting their products to market outlets.

The Council will provide funding to a diverse range of entities operating at various points in the food supply chain, including small to mid-sized producers and supply chain entities.

To be considered for funding as a producer, the farm operation must have an annual value of sales between $20,000 and $300,000, and the farm must actively be producing no more than 300 acres of fruits, vegetables, other specialty crops, or other products for human consumption.

The following are eligible supply chain operations, and this list is not all-inclusive; some examples include:
• Storage: food hubs
• Transportation: fleet coordinators, logistics
• Processing: incubator facilities, commercial kitchens
• Distribution: retail outlets, pantries, food trucks, single or multi-site grocery stores, cooperative grocers, corner stores, mobile markets, restaurants, farmers markets, on-farm stores

The First State Food System Program offers two grant categories, with two funding levels $2,500 to $49,999 and $50,000 to $150,000. Single-use projects will be completed in 12 months or less, and funds will be used to make specific, one-time purchases for equipment or other capital expenses. Multi-use projects will last for more than a year, and funds will be expended to cover various operational, administrative, and capital expenses.

Applicants who seek funding of $50,000 or more must complete registration through SAM.gov and provide a Unique Entity ID (UEI). The UEI is assigned to an entity by SAM.gov. Applicants must meet these requirements before applying for the grant.

The Council is working with the Delaware Community Foundation (DCF) to facilitate the First State Food System Program through its grant application portal. This allows applicants to apply to this grant program easily and learn more about additional opportunities available through DCF. While DCF is facilitating the grant application process, this is not a grant program of the DCF.

The online application is available at https://delcf.org/grants. Click on “Apply Now” anywhere on the page to log in or create a new profile. Once logged in, click “Apply” at the top of the page. Select “Delaware’s First State Food System Program” from the list of open opportunities to complete and submit an application, including uploaded documents. For

The funding for this program is provided through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden and championed by members of Delaware’s congressional delegation – U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.

The Delaware Council on Farm & Food Policy strives to facilitate and support a local food system where:
• Farmers can access viable markets;
• Delaware households can access nutritious and wholesome food options within their communities; and
• Where the impacts of supply chain disruptions can be diminished.

Contact Delaware Council on Farm & Food Policy for grant program questions at DDA_farmandfoodpolicy@delaware.gov. Complete program information can be found at https://farm-and-food-delaware.hub.arcgis.com/. For technical assistance using the DCF grant portal, applicants can contact Kelly Sheridan at ksheridan@delcf.org.

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DOVER, Del. (January 13, 2022) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a proposed rule change on December 6, 2021, to amend the agricultural water requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. In response to the proposed change, the Delaware Department of Agriculture and University of Delaware Cooperative Extension will host two outreach sessions on January 21, 2022, to engage farmers and other stakeholders.

The Produce Safety Rule was signed into law in 2011 as part of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act. FDA’s proposed rule amends the pre-harvest agricultural water requirements for covered produce other than sprouts previously established in Subpart E of the Produce Safety Rule. In the proposed rule, previous pre-harvest water microbial quality criteria and testing requirements are proposed to be replaced with more flexible requirements for pre-harvest agricultural water assessments. These assessments are designed to be more feasible to implement across various agricultural systems.

The two sessions scheduled for January 21 in Delaware will detail the proposed changes to the rule. Producers and stakeholders will learn best practices to write and submit questions and public comments to the FDA and participate in open discussions. Anyone interested in attending a session must register online at https://delawarewaterrulemeeting.eventbrite.com.

FDA has initiated a public comment period on the proposed rule to close on April 5, 2022. For public comments to be officially considered, all comments must be spoken at one of the FDA’s public meetings or submitted in writing to Docket No. FDA-2021-N-0471 on Regulations.gov.

FDA is hosting two virtual public meetings to discuss the proposed changes and hear feedback. These meetings are scheduled for February 14 and February 25, 2022. Farmers and industry representatives are encouraged to attend. Registration is required to obtain the details and link to attend one of the dates offered by the FDA.

Farmers and stakeholders who have clarification questions about proposed changes to the rule should submit them to AgWater@fda.hhs.gov.

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